Ghurkas Arrive In The South

180 Gurkha soldiers from the British Army have arrived in New Zealand to begin a tough 6 week training exercise called “Pacific Kukhri” .

The soldiers from C (Tamandu) Company, 2nd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles have come to take advantage of the outstanding training opportunities offered by the terrain around Lake Tekapo in the South Island

The Gurkhas of C (Tamandu) Company returned from a challenging 7 months in Helmand Province of Afghanistan in October 2011. The Company has reformed after being split up all over the Province to mentor and train the Afghan Police, so this represents the first time in nearly 18 months that they will get to train as a group again.

The Gurkhas come from the British Army Garrison in Brunei on the island of Borneo. They will be using the time in New Zealand to consolidate the traditional close ties have existed between Gurkha and Kiwi soldiers.

Kiwis and Gurkhas have fought alongside each other in both World Wars and more recently in East Timor and Afghanistan. The Gurkha soldiers themselves have a unique, 200-year old place in the British Army and are renowned for their distinctive Kukhri knife and their regimental motto, ‘Better to die than to live a coward.’

The Gurkhas have taken part in all major British Army overseas deployments during the last 20 years including Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor, Sierra Leone and the Balkans.

The training ends in the second week of May.

ENDS

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